Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Jul 20, 2016: Acts 11 When God Does A New Work
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. All right, well, let's look at Acts chapter 11. We're going to work our way through the entire chapter this evening, Lord willing, but we'll begin by reading verses 1 through 9. Here's what it says. Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying. Verse 6. Verse 8. Verse 9. But I said, not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God has cleansed you must not call common. Here as we look at Acts chapter 11 this evening, we're continuing the account of what took place in Acts chapter 10, where Peter was called by the Lord to the house of Cornelius, who was a Gentile soldier, a centurion. And as Peter began to share the gospel with Cornelius, and his household, the Holy Spirit came down upon them. They were born again. Later on, Peter baptized them and they became believers in Jesus Christ. And it was a brand new work that took place because it was the first time that full-on Gentiles had received the gospel and been born again. Up to that point, it had only been Jews or Gentiles who had converted to Judaism who had been baptized born again or become believers. But this now opens the door, showing them that God wants to do a much bigger work than just Judaism itself, but Gentiles also are open to the gospel message, and God wants to do a deliverance work for all people and not just the Jews. Well, that continues on now into chapter 11 because now Peter is going to go back to Jerusalem and be challenged on what took place there in chapter 10 and be challenged on the steps that he took and the actions that he took in chapter 10 in ministering to the household of Cornelius. But as we get started here in chapter 11, I titled the message this evening, When God Does a New Work. Because there in chapter 10, we saw like the beginning, kind of the door just cracked open a little bit. One Gentile family got saved. But now we're going to see that door thrown wide open here in chapter 11. It's really the beginning of a brand new phase in the book of Acts and a brand new work of God that we get to see unfold before us. Here in chapter 11, we are entering into the final section of the book of Acts. You might remember at the beginning, we gave the outline from Acts chapter 1, verse 8, where Jesus says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And so, Acts can be split up into three sections according to the, you know, further and further witness to Jesus that he describes there in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. And so in the first seven chapters, we see the witness to Jerusalem. Everything that takes place is there within the city of Jerusalem. And at the end, the religious leaders accuse the apostles and say, you've filled this city with your doctrine. And so mission accomplished. They are witnesses to Jesus in Jerusalem in Acts chapters one through seven. But then in Acts chapter 8, we see persecution begin, and the church is spread out from Jerusalem to the surrounding regions. And so there we have an account of them being a witness to Jesus in Judea and Samaria. In particular, you might remember in Acts chapter 8, Philip, who ministered in Samaria and then went down and ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch, and records there those events that took place as the gospel spread from Jerusalem to the surrounding regions. And now as we head into chapter 11, we begin that third portion. So we've been looking at Judea, Samaria, all these areas right around Jerusalem, right there in the land of Israel. But now we're going to see the gospel go to the end of the earth. That is the end of, you know, the inhabited world at that time, the end of the Roman Empire. And so that's going to be beginning here in chapter 11 and then all the way through chapter 28. And so... ♪♪ that was there in Jerusalem. And so if you wanted to be saved, you had to go to Jerusalem to hear the gospel. That's the way that it was. But then in the following chapters, it spread to Judea and Samaria. So chapters 8 through 10, we see the gospel going through that whole region as the persecution spreads the disciples out of Jerusalem. And then now in chapter 11, in verse... It tells us, And we'll come back to that later this evening. But you can see, so, We're kind of zoomed out quite a bit now on the map. And so moving far and wide up to the island of Cyprus and the region of Phoenicia on there on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and then all the way up to Antioch, which we'll be talking a lot about here in this chapter and in the chapters to come. And so this is the beginning of this new phase where now the gospel is going forth to a much broader scope, a much broader area, and God is bringing forth the gospel, specifically now to Gentiles. So no longer just focusing on the Jewish people, but really focusing on the Gentiles, and God is bringing the gospel to all peoples, all nations, all nationalities, and all nations. And so it's a new work. And it's a good example for us as we look at chapter 11 of what it looks like when God does a new work. And so there's five points that we will talk about as we work our way through this. Now, a little disclaimer I like to give is that... As I share these things, you know, this is a pattern that we can see when God does a new work. But I do want to be careful, you know, this isn't law. It's not that he has to do it this way all the time. But this is a pattern that could be observed here in chapter 11, and I would suggest can be observed in many other works of God that have happened throughout the years. And one example that we can all, I think, relate to and consider easily is the Calvary Chapel movement. going back to really the Jesus people movement back in the 60s and 70s and how that began. And if you've heard Pastor Chuck or some of those guys who were there, you know, share what took place as there were these hippies that, you know, all of that and this radical conversion to Jesus that was happening online. all over really parallels what we see here in chapter 11. And so I'll highlight a couple thoughts from that as we go. But let's begin looking at verses 1 through 3 with point number 1. When God does a new work, there will be contention. There's going to be contention. When God does something new, something different, there's going to be contention because traditions will be broken. And that's what we see happen here in the first part of chapter 11. There's this contention. People are upset with Peter because traditions have been broken. Now, traditions can be good. We talked about this really a lot over the past couple of weeks because we saw Peter being kind of pulled out of his traditions. And so you know traditions can be good, but they become very dangerous and wrong when we hold traditions as high as the Word of God. And so maybe the traditions started in a good place and for good reasons, but over time we hold to those even higher than the Word of God sometimes. And so whenever there's a new work of God that's different than the traditions that we've established, Understand there will be contention. There's going to be some pushback when that takes place. Looking again at verses 1, 2, and 3, it says, Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. So Peter comes back. I can imagine, you know, Peter coming back and just kind of overwhelmed at this whole experience, right? I mean, he was out there ministering in Joppa, and he raised a girl from the dead, and was doing, you know, different healings and works. And then God took him over to Caesarea, where, you know, he's just preaching a message. And then all these Gentiles got saved. Radically changes his whole worldview, his whole, you know, understanding of God's plan. And then he's He comes back to Jerusalem, and I would expect that Peter was not so... you know, naive to think everybody's going to be excited about this. But at the same time, you know, I could just imagine Peter just like so excited, you know, about what God has done and over the work that has taken place. And, you know, as God blew up, you know, the little plan and vision that Peter had, you know, into this understanding of what God really wanted to do, I could imagine him just being overwhelmed and excited and yet probably bracing himself a little bit for the challenge and the pushback that he knew would come because he himself knew has just barely got out of these traditions, right? And even later on, he kind of gets sucked back in. You might remember in Galatians, where Paul the Apostle says, I had to rebuke Peter because, hey, he was there in Antioch, and he was eating with us and fellowshipping with us with Gentiles and everything. And then all of a sudden, these people from Jerusalem came, and he was like, oh, and he kind of withdrew. And even Barnabas got caught up in that. And so it was a battle. These were real traditions that were deep within him. And so I would expect that he understood there was going to be some contention when he got back to Jerusalem. But it was a battle that was worth fighting. And it was a conversation that needed to be had. And so he heads back to Jerusalem. And here come, it refers to them in verse 2 as those of the circumcision that contended with him. Now when it talks about those of the circumcision, it's not talking about the unsaved Jews or those who continued to practice Judaism. It's talking about believers in Jesus, but who insisted, who were of the opinion that, well, in order for anybody to be saved, you had to become a Jew. And so, you know, for guys, first things first, you need to be circumcised, but then you need to continue to keep all the rest of the law of Moses, as well as believing in Jesus, and then you can be saved. And there was this group that was referred to as the circumcision that held to that, that people have to become Jews in order to be saved. And that's going to be a battle throughout the rest of the New Testament. There's going to be those who come in. They're called Judaizers who want to convert everybody to Judaism as well as to Christ. That it's a requirement in their opinion. And so they come to Jesus or they come to Jesus. They come to Peter and they say, Peter, you went in and ate and had fellowship with uncircumcised men. Right? And this is absolutely wrong. This was a contention. It was a sharp dispute. It was a fierce battle. It wasn't kind of a light little chide or just kind of like, hey, you know, we heard this, you know, what was that? But it was a contention. There was some serious intensity in this dispute that is going on. Now you might remember in Acts chapter 10, verse 28, Peter tells the household of Cornelius, he says, you guys know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to one of another nation. Peter says, look, it's unlawful for me to be here. But as he talks about it being unlawful, we mentioned it back there in chapter 10, It wasn't unlawful as far as the word of God was concerned, but it was unlawful as far as their traditions or the rabbinical law was concerned. And so the rabbis had declared, that's unlawful, even though the Bible had not declared, the scriptures had not declared that was unlawful. That wasn't God's plan. That wasn't God's instruction. But their interpretation, their understanding was this was illegal. It was illegal to go eat with a Gentile. And Peter has just been delivered from that bondage, from that tradition. And now here he's dealing with those who are still in that tradition. And so they're contending with him fiercely. Hey, you went and ate. It was unlawful according to our law. Unlawful according to our traditions. And again, that was the problem. They held to their traditions as the law of God, which of course it was not. Now, as we think about these guys, the circumcision, and they're holding on to this whole concept of circumcision. It challenges us a bit, and I would ask you to consider what the commentator Alexander McLaren has to say. He says, "...we condemn such narrowness, but do many of us not practice it in other forms?" Now that's a little bit old school. He was from the 1800s. But what he's saying is we're quick to condemn those of the circumcision. And yet we easily follow in their footsteps and we practice it in other forms. Of course, we don't practice it and tell people they have to convert to Judaism. But we build up our own traditions and And we can easily get caught up into this idea, well, if people are going to be saved, they have to dress this way, they have to go to church this way, they have to, you know, attend this many times a week, they have to listen to this kind of music, they have to live in this kind of place, they have to, you know. We can easily follow in those footsteps and have our traditions that we hold to as if they were the law of God. And this was the battle that Jesus always had with the religious leaders. In Mark chapter 7 verse 9, Jesus says to the religious leaders, all too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. And so as we look at these guys here in the first couple verses, understand when God's going to do a new work, there's going to be contention by those who are holding to traditions. And sometimes we reject the commandment of God. Sometimes we reject the work of God so that we can hold on to our own traditions. And I want to encourage you this evening to pay attention to that and watch out for that. Whether there's a new work that God is doing in you and through you, and so recognize there's going to be contention, or thinking about it this way, maybe we're the old, you know, kind of stuck up, circumcised people, and we're reluctant to let God do the new work that He wants to do. We need to be careful that we don't become the circumcision. I don't know about you, but I want God to do a new work. I want God to do a new work in me. I want God to do a new work in this place. I want God to do a new work in our city, in our nation, and I don't want to be one of those who are contending to with the work that God wants to do. Again, we could think about the parallels, as I mentioned, of the Calvary Chapel movement, the Jesus People movement. There was a lot of contention in that time because the people who were flocking to church were being rejected by the church because they didn't dress right, they didn't have shoes on, their hair was too long, they had weird music. All these things that the traditions of man were were fighting against the work that God was doing in the hearts and the lives of young people. And it wasn't just there at Costa Mesa. It was all across the United States. There was this work that was happening, this movement of God. And it was, you know, those who were not contending with the work of God, those who were not holding to traditions as the word of God, who were able to participate in that work of God. It's something for us to consider. Are you willing to be part of a new work of God? Are you willing to let go of traditions? Are you willing to challenge your own traditions, your own convictions, the things that you hold on so tightly? Are you willing to challenge those things with the Word of God? Now, I'm not saying we throw out the scriptures, and we need to be clear on that. We hold fast to the Word of God, but again, there are so many times we build up and we add on other things, and we hold on to those things that that are our traditions, and it can put us in a place of contention against the work that God wants to do. Let's not be afraid of breaking our own traditions as the Holy Spirit is working and leading. But understand, as we do, so like Peter, as we step outside of our traditions, there's going to be others around us. There's going to be others here in the fellowship who would say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? How can you go there? Well, how can you do that? How can you eat with those people? There's going to be that reaction, contention, and that's okay. It's valid because as you go on now, it kind of leads us to point number two, and that's found in verses 4 through 18. There should be discussion. It's healthy. It's good. There's going to be contention, and then there should be discussion. That's the way that it should go. That's pretty normal. That's pretty natural within the body of Christ. And so let's look at this discussion. I'm going to read through verses 4 through 18. We'll come back and hit a couple highlights. I'm not going to go too in-depth because it's really a repeat of what we saw in chapter 10. But let's look at this and see what it has to say in verse 4. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, Verse 11. Verse 12. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Notice some of the things about Peter's explanation here. He comes back. He's excited. God's done a great work, but there's this contention. Peter, it tells us in verse 4, explains to them in order from the beginning. I think being in Peter's shoes, I might say, hey, I don't have to explain anything to you. I'm Peter. Don't you know I'm the Pope? I don't got to tell you nothing or tell you why I did anything. I could imagine easily wanting to have that kind of attitude. But I think Peter here enters this conversation, this discussion in the right heart, with the right heart, with the right attitude. He's humble. He says, you're right. We got to discuss these things. As believers in the body of Christ, there is an accountability that we have to one another. We're not just independent people who just randomly show up at the same location on regular intervals. It's not just like that, but we are the body of Christ throughout the scriptures. We see that described. The church is referred to that way and individual churches are referred to that way. We are the body of Christ, right? And so it is appropriate for us to challenge one another. It is appropriate for us to give an account to one another, for us to have discussions about what we're doing and whether or not it lines up with the scriptures. It's appropriate. And so Peter accepts this kind of accountability, this tension, this contention that is brought against him. And he says, well, let me start from the beginning and let me share with you what God did. And so he explained it to them in order from the beginning. And so he tells them about this vision from God. Well, this all started, I was on, you know, the roof and the Lord brought down this sheet full of different kinds of animals that some were clean, but some were unclean. And God said, rise and kill and eat. And I couldn't do that. I said, not so Lord, because those are not clean animals. That's against the the word of God. Those aren't kosher, you know? So I can't eat those. And God says, don't call unclean or common what I've cleansed. And so he shares with them that vision that he has. And then as he's pondering that vision, then these three guys show up to bring him to Caesarea. And he says in verse 12, then the spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. The Holy Spirit told me to go with them. So as he's explaining these things, I want you guys to know, understand, this wasn't something I made up in my head. This wasn't something that, you know, it was my plan. I had this. But let me show you how God did this work and how he got me. He brought me this vision and then he orchestrated it so that these guys showed up. And then the Holy Spirit told me to go with them. This was a work of God, Peter's explaining. And again, I think he wasn't doing it in an angry way or he wasn't shouting at them. God told me and then the Holy Spirit said. I think he was just saying, let me explain to you the whole picture so you can understand what God did and how all of these events transpired. He also says there in verse 12, moreover, these six brethren accompanied me and we entered the man's house. And so he presents to them some eyewitnesses. You don't just have to take my word for it. But here, these guys were with me. You know, they know what I shared with them along the way. And they know how we entered into the house. They, you know, they know that it wasn't, you know, my plan or my doing in any of this, but that this was a work of God. They can testify of these things. Then in verse 15, he says, And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. And so Peter here explains, God did this work. All I was doing was speaking, and I was just beginning to speak, he says. Evidently, he had much more that he was going to say, but he was just at the beginning of his message, still in the introduction, and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them, and then he gives a comparison, as upon us. And so, you know, remember back to when we were there in the upper room in Acts chapter 2, and The Holy Spirit came upon us and how none of us had anything to do with that. We didn't orchestrate that. We didn't manipulate that. We didn't make that happen. That was just something God did. And in a similar way, as I was speaking to them, God did that work also and poured out the Holy Spirit upon them. Again, reiterating the fact that this was a work of God throughout this whole time. Verse 16, he says, "'Then I remembered the word of the Lord.'" And what did the Lord say? John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Peter goes on then to say, this lines up with the word of God. So it's not just my own opinion. It's not just my own experience. It's not just random coincidences that all, you know, happen together. So it seems like, you know, this is what God wanted. But it was clear from beginning to end that this is what God said, this is what God did at this point, this is what God said, this is what God did. Here are these guys who were with me that can testify, that's what God said and that's what God did. And then as I was doing this, God did that work and it all lines up with the scripture. And so he presents a solid case. He presents a solid reason to understand this was a work of God because, well, his testimony of what God did, the eyewitness testimony of those who were with him, and then the witness of the scriptures, they all line up and he says, this was a work of God. Verse 17 now. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? Here he says, look, I understand what you guys are saying. I understand the problem that you have. I was just there. But when God did this work, who am I that I could try to stop what God wants to do? Now, it would be really good for us to hold on to that concept and to grab hold of that in our hearts and to make sure that we have that. Again, that we're not the ones contending against the work of the Lord. Because there are many times that we will hold on to our traditions and rather than hold on to the word of God. And as a result, find ourselves in a place of trying to withstand God. And Peter was like, I didn't want to be in that position, trying to hold on to my traditions, hold on to what I'm comfortable with and what I want and fight against the work that God wanted to do. Who am I to fight against God? If God wanted, it's clear throughout the whole thing. It's clear God wanted to do this. And so I had to submit to God's will. I And let him do what he wanted to do. Verse 18. And here is the response of these who contended with Peter. They become silent. This is what I would refer to as good discussion. There will be, there should be, there needs to be discussion when there are new things happening, when there's different things happening. Again, we have an accountability to one another, but here you have, okay, here's our problem, Peter. Here's our contention with you. Here's the problem that we have. And then Peter is given an opportunity to explain and share, well, this is where I was at. This is what happened to me. This is what God said. And this is what God did. And then the people who contended are then able to respond and say, okay, now I can see that. I understand that is legitimately a work of God. This is a good discussion. No part of this is bad. Even the contention part, it's to be expected. It's normal. It's okay. But so many times we fail in this whole discussion thing within the church. Sometimes we fail at the beginning where we won't even go talk to the person. when there's contention, when there's an issue like, hey, I don't understand. How is what you're doing okay as far as God is concerned? It doesn't make sense. We have an accountability to one another. We have a responsibility for one another. Again, we're the body of Christ, and so sometimes we don't even enter into the discussion because we don't like the contention. But sometimes we need to have that contention. We need to have that discussion because sometimes it's not like the case of Peter where And the person is out of line and there does need to be correction. There does need to be a challenge to that. And that's a possibility. But we need to give the opportunity to say, now this is what God was doing. Now here's the thing. So many times when we enter into those things, you know, we're convinced already. We can't be persuaded no matter what the person says. So Peter tells us, no, God did this and God did that. And he told me this and there's these witnesses. And we say, I don't care. You shouldn't have done that. I don't want you to do that anymore. That's not right. You can't continue. You know, sometimes we can go into that attitude. And so it breaks down at the end. But here we see a good example of discussion, a good example of what our relationship is to be like, especially when there's contention. We bring it up. We give opportunity to discuss, to talk about what's God saying and how is God saying and what is the Lord doing? And then we receive. We be open to this really is a work of God. I think the end of verse 18 is a little bit astounding and humorous at the same time. They say, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. The skeptics at the beginning were contending with Peter, but now they're convinced and they're blown away. They're just like, it's going to take me a couple of weeks to get my mind wrapped around that. You mean God wants to save Gentiles too? I can't believe that. Again, we've talked about that, that extreme prejudice that was there between these two groups of people, but they were willing to lay their traditions down, to lay those things down and say, wow, I guess God really does want to do that. Now, this isn't the end of the battle. There's going to be more of these things that come up because, again, these traditions are deeply ingrained in them. And, of course, other Jews are getting saved. And so, you know, more and more people are going to have to learn this lesson. But here, this group that Peter is dealing with, they receive the word. They accept it. Dave Guzik says, It's a glorious thing when God's people will allow their prejudices and traditions to be overcome by God's word and God's work. There needs to be that willingness to, For us to lay down our traditions, lay down our prejudices, and be convinced that someone who's doing something that we don't like, we wouldn't do, we wouldn't, you know, encourage or endorse, but when it is a work of God and it lines up with the word of God, There should be good discussion and good fellowship over that. When God does a new work, there should be discussion. And again, this is something that we can see as we look back to our roots at the Calvary Chapel movement, the Jesus People movement. There was... Many times where Pastor Chuck has shared, you know, discussions that he had with people in the church who were, you know, not super comfortable with what was happening and these young people that were coming and, well, we can't let them in the building because, you know, they don't wear shoes and so they're going to get the carpet dirty. Which never made sense to me anyways, because either way, whether you're not wearing shoes or wearing shoes, you're touching the same ground, the same dirt. I don't know how one's worse than the other. But anyways, but... I'm sure you've heard Pastor Chuck, he shared, well, let's rip up the carpet then. Who cares about the carpet? Let's reach the people. That was the main thing. But it's so easy for us to say, well, no, no, no. We want to preserve the building and the carpet and what we want and keep our traditions and not let the people in. And that's not what God wants to do. God wants to do a new work. And it's appropriate, though, that there should be discussion along with that. Let me throw out another more recent example. There's lots of discussion happening, and maybe you're not as exposed to it as I am, but there is the new concept, or newer concept, over the past few years of a satellite church. And that is, let's not plant another church in the nearby town, but we'll just get a And, you know, we'll have the worship there. We'll have, you know, the message just, you know, videocast over there. And so people can come and, you know, have church service and they don't have to come to this building. And without getting into a lot of details, you know, there's a lot of debate over that. There's a lot of contention over whether or not that is a legitimate work of God or a legitimate way for God to work. And I heard a pastor share, like Peter, in order from the beginning to here's what happened. And he shared this, and then that, and here's what the Lord said, and here's what these guys were saying, and here's what the Lord was saying, and here's what the Lord was doing, and here was the, you know, the opportunities. And after, you know, I was extremely skeptical at the beginning. After hearing that, I thought, well, okay, maybe God spoke to him. And so I'm not going to contend with that. Now, it doesn't mean that necessarily we're going to do that, but I'm open. Hey, maybe that is a legitimate work of God. And we need to keep ourselves in that place where we're willing to have the discussion, to hear. So many times we're just not even willing to hear the other person out, but hear them out and be able to see. Does it line up with the word of God? Does it violate the word of God? Is there evidence that it's a work of God? And be welcoming to the work that God wants to do. There should be discussion. There will be contention. You can count on that. There should be discussion that goes along with it. Well, moving on now to point number three, we have verses 19 through 21. And here we have the point, normal believers take action. So we're shifting gears a little bit here in verse 19. It's going to kind of rewind a little bit, go back to the persecution that began in chapter 8, and kind of catch us up to speed in other parts of the world besides what Peter's been up to. Now, as we look at this portion, I think it's significant to understand this is a huge portion of Scripture, even though it's just a few verses, and it probably doesn't, you know, ring like, you know, this is amazing to us as we read it. But understand this is the first portion outreach to Gentiles. Here, as we look at this, you know, Peter was called to the household of Cornelius and he preached there and they got saved. That was one thing, but this shows kind of like some missionaries, the kind of the first missionaries, the first ones reaching out beyond the Jewish boundaries to Gentiles. And what's significant, I think, to consider about this is that this happens by normal believers. It's normal. It's just rent. In fact, they're unnamed. They're not apostles. They're not, you know, some of the deacons, they're just some Christians from somewhere unnamed doing what God puts on their hearts. And there's a great work that takes place as a result. Verse 19. Now, those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. So here in verse 19, we're kind of like backing up again. Okay, remember everybody was scattered back in Acts chapter 8. Stephen was martyred in Acts chapter 7. Saul of Tarsus, he was approving, holding the cloaks of those who were throwing the stones. And then in chapter 8, Saul goes crazy and he leads this charge against Christians, persecuting and imprisoning and getting them to blaspheme the name of Jesus. Acts chapter 8 tells us then that all Christians are driven out of Jerusalem except for the apostles. There's only the 12 apostles left in Jerusalem. Everybody else, a church over 5,000, is scattered outside of Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 8 verse 4, it tells us those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. And so those disciples who were pushed out of Jerusalem because of this persecution were They were preaching the gospel in all the places that they went. It wasn't a mission trip where they said, hey, let's go reach that place. It was, let's run for our lives. But along the way, as they encounter people, as they have opportunity, they're preaching the word. They're preaching the gospel. But we get a little bit more context here in chapter 11, verse 19. It tells us they were preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. So even though they went everywhere preaching the word, They would only preach to the Jews. It was limited. So if they ran into you on the street and said, hey, how you doing? Richard Bueno. Hmm, that's not a Jewish name. Don't share the gospel with him. Why don't you come to synagogue on Saturday? We've got some good stuff to share and you can convert to Judaism. And then we'll talk about the gospel, right? They were limited in their scope, in their focus. We're only preaching to Jews until verse 20. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. So looking again at the map real quick, you have Jerusalem down at the bottom. When the persecution happened, they spread right around Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. But then, as it continued, they spread all the way up, all the way up to Antioch in Syria. And they're there. There's a church established there, but they're preaching only to Jews. There's a good Jewish community up there. So they had a church established. made up of Jews in Antioch until these guys from Cyprus came. And I don't know what it is in my mind, but I just kind of picture like these kind of crazy guys, like, you know, like the people in Antioch were like, oh man, who are these guys? They're kind of weird and kind of crazy. And what are they doing here? Why don't they go back to Cyprus, you know? But here they come. It tells us in verse 20, some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch, they spoke to the Hellenists. Now the Hellenists, they were the Greeks. And Luke is giving us this as a contrast to verse 19. In verse 19, they spoke to the Jews only. But now here's these guys who come from Cyprus and they're speaking to the Greeks. What a radical, crazy couple guys that they had from Cyprus. But it's the first outreach to the Gentiles and they're preaching the Lord Jesus. Now, we don't know time frame of when this exactly happened versus, you know, when Peter preached to Cornelius and stuff. We don't know exactly when that happened. It could have been right after or at the same time or even before. But here they are. They're bold enough. They're crazy enough to reach out beyond the Jewish people and speak truth. to the Greeks to speak to the Gentiles and preach the Lord Jesus. And then notice verse 21, and the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed and turned to the Lord. The hand of the Lord was with them. This radical new work, this crazy idea, this crazy thought that God would not want to reach even those people. Here are these guys bold enough to do it. We don't know their names. They're not apostles. Not noteworthy as far as, you know, their names are concerned. They're just two believers, normal believers, normal Christians responding to what God's putting upon their heart with boldness that's given by the Holy Spirit. And they're speaking to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And it's effective. Not because they're super persuasive, not because they're super smart, not because they have, you know, really great arguments or anything like that. Why are they successful? Why is it effective? Because the hand of the Lord was with them. God uses normal people, not wise, not lofty, you know, not scholarly. He uses normal people. And when the hand of the Lord is with us, God can do a great work. And notice it says in verse 21, a great number believed and turned to the Lord. It wasn't some little, you know, side ministry. Oh, you're part of that group. Okay, there's a little room in the back, you know, kind of go back there and Those two weird guys, they'll minister to you. No, it was this massive reception. It was a great number who believed and responded to the gospel. Normal believers take action when God does a new work. And this is different than I think what we often think, that we normally think. Okay, so let's say God wants to do a new work here at Living Water. I think our normal tendency would be to think, okay, Jerry, figure out what we're going to do. And come up with a plan. Come up with a vision. What kind of outreach is it going to be? Who are we going to reach? How are we going to do it? And certainly, I need to be seeking the Lord, and I need to be sharing with you when God speaks to me. But at the same time, it's just as likely that it's you that God wants to use to do a new work here in this fellowship. That it has nothing to do with me at all. That he's going to speak to you before he speaks to me, perhaps. What? Yeah. Yeah. That's what happened here. Saints do the ministry. We'll see, you know, the leaders equip the saints. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But it's just, it's normal people that God takes. He speaks to them and he uses them to do great works on his behalf. When God does a new work, normal believers take action. Again, we can see some parallels as we look back to our roots in the Calvary Chapel movement, the Jesus people movement. It's crazy to think, and it's hard for us to imagine that the famous pastors within Calvary Chapel, they were the crazy kids that hung around the church. I hope you've heard the testimonies. If you haven't, the book Harvest is a great book. It kind of shares some of the testimonies of Greg Laurie and Mike McIntosh and those guys. They were just, you know, druggies who got saved and didn't have nothing to do. And so they hung out at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and God did a great work with just normal believers who were brand new in the faith and learning how to walk with God. And that's how God will often work. It's normal people. Like these two guys from Cyprus are like, hey, let's go talk to the Hellenists. And everybody's like, well, if you want to do that, you can, but we're going to stay over here. I would ask you to consider what is God saying to you Because maybe you are the root of a new work that God wants to do. Do you have a heart for something? Do you have vision for something? The New Testament church, their first full-on outreach to Gentiles happened because normal believers, unnamed, really unknown, just did what God put on their hearts. Many times that's how God does a new work. Now going along with that in verses 22 through 26, here we have point number four, leaders join the work with exhortation and instruction. So it's not that leaders, you know, aren't involved, but maybe they're not involved many times the way that we would expect them to be involved. The leaders did not start this work. You know, there's kind of the old adage, if you want to know if you're a leader, look behind and see if anybody's following you, right? That's not the idea that's conveyed here in Acts chapter 11. They didn't start this. They didn't lead the charge. All right, let's go get the Gentiles. They reacted to the work that God was already doing. Here, the leaders back in Jerusalem hear about what's going on, and now they're going to send Barnabas to check it out. Verse 22. Verse 22. The news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. So reports come back. Oh yeah, Christians are reaching out to Gentiles here and there, and people are getting saved, and the church sends out Barnabas. Now, I think that the church there at Jerusalem, which was kind of, you know, the head church at that time, because that's where the apostles were, I would suggest they were not opposed to this work. And you can tell that by who they send, because they send Barnabas. Barnabas was first seen in Acts chapter 4. He sells his property and gives it to the church to provide for the needs of the poor. And Barnabas was such a cool guy, had such a gift of encouragement. His real name actually was Joses. In verse 36 of Acts chapter 4, it says, and Joses said, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus. So he was there involved in the church. His name was Joses, but nobody called him Joses because the apostles, the disciples were like, man, this guy is just encouraging. He's always encouraging and he's just building people up and helping them out and pushing them forward in their walk with the Lord. We got to change his name. We're going to call him Barnabas because he is so encouraging, right? And so they hear about this work that's going on up there, and Gentiles are getting saved, and they don't send Francisco the law Espinosa. They send Barnabas. Let's go send some encouragement. Hey, if I need law enforcement, I'll send Cisco. Cisco, I need you to deal with the situation. We need to have a conversation with these people. He'll back me up with the law. It's interesting, though. Cisco's also an encouragement, too. I don't know how that works. He's got that good balance. But anyways, but you could tell by who they sent. Barnabas... They were not fighting this work, but they're like, hey, let's go encourage them. You know, go check it out. Go build them up. Go help them out with whatever they need as they're involved in this work. Verse 23, when he came and he had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas goes up to see what's going on. He goes up to Antioch, and when he comes, he sees, notice what does he see? He sees the grace of God. Man, I can't state highly enough that that should be a hallmark of the church. He goes to the church at Antioch, and he sees the grace of God. Not the law, you know, not, but he sees the grace of God, the work of God. And he sees the grace of God. Now, again, that doesn't mean that we overlook sin and that kind of stuff, but just that love, that amazing grace that God is at work and lives are being transformed and people's hearts are being changed and people are falling in love with God and pursuing God and Jews and Gentiles are seeking God together. Oh, it says he's glad and he encouraged them. You guys are doing great. Continue in the Lord. Keep up the good work. So Barnabas does what Barnabas does. He encourages them all, it says in verse 23. Because he was a good man. He's full of the Holy Spirit. And then notice at the end of verse 24, and a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas didn't go up there and say, okay, guys, I understand you guys are wanting to do outreach to the Gentiles. I'm here to teach you how to do outreaches to the Gentiles. Let me show you how it's done. No, you're doing it all wrong. Let me show you the right way to do an outreach. That's not what he does. He goes up and he just encourages, you guys are doing great. Yeah, you're awesome. Way to go. Man, God's amazing, isn't he? And he's building them up in the faith that And then the result is a great many people were added to the Lord. As he exercises his gift, which is primarily to the saints, the saints are then overflowing that and reaching out more to their community and people are getting saved. It's a great gift of encouragement that he has. And as he exercised his gift to the church, people were added to the Lord. Then verse 25, then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. So Barnabas encourages them. He builds them up a little bit. More people get saved, and he decides, you know, there's a lot of new believers here. I need some help in strengthening them and instructing them in the Lord. And so he goes and he finds Saul. Tarsus was about 100 miles away, relatively close, kind of like around the corner, you know, from where he was at. And so he goes and gets Saul of Tarsus and he brings him back. And it says that for a whole year, they assembled the church and taught a great many people. They go through... whatever, you know, the scriptures, the one-year reading program or whatever. And Saul and Barnabas are teaming up and they're teaching all these new believers. They're instructing them in the faith and building them up, teaching them, giving them that solid foundation that they need. And so when God does a new work, leaders join the work with exhortation and instruction. God has placed leaders in the Not always to start the work, but sometimes just to come alongside, to come up after the work has begun, to build up, to instruct, to encourage, and to help you do the work that God wants you to do in ministry. That's Ephesians chapter 4. Jesus gave leaders, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. That's what we see demonstrated here in chapter 11. They came alongside the saints so that the saints could continue to do the work that God had called them to do. Well, we finish it up in verses 27 through 30. Here's point number five. Disciples show compassion. There's this great new work of God, but it's not a selfish work. They're not so wrapped up in, you know, how exciting their own ministry is, their own life is, and what's happening in their life. It's not a self-exalting, a selfish work. There's an honor that's given to the prior work, which you could look at in Jerusalem, and to those who are in need. And that's what we see reflected here. Verse 27, and in these days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which has happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judah. This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Here you can see God spoke, revealed the need, and the disciples responded saying, To that need. They show compassion. For those who are back in Jerusalem. who later on are going to give them a hard time for not being circumcised. That's going to come up again. But they show compassion for those who are there, for the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, and for the apostles who are there, and the church that is there. They have this compassion as they hear about this need. They're not just self-absorbed. They're not just focused on themselves, but they're hearing about the needs that are around them, and they're responding to that. They're showing compassion. I think this is really important for us to consider, this last point, but all of them collectively as I kind of finish up this evening. God is always doing a new work. There's not one thing that God, you know, is doing, and that's all that he's going to do until he returns, because he's dealing with people. And we need to understand this. There's always going to be new generation and a new season of ministry, a new fresh work that God is going to do that will be different than the previous work. So many times we want to hold on and cling to the previous. And sometimes, you know, we're kind of, you know, depending on when we're born. So we're, you know, here in the Calvary Chapel movement. Most of us, I would suggest, are Maybe there's a couple, but I won't call them out. But most of us weren't there in the 60s and 70s at the beginning of the movement, right? But we got to experience kind of the peak of it, and we don't know where it's going to go now. But following the course of history, there's going to be new movements. There's going to be new works. Looking at the trajectory of our country, maybe the new works and the new movements are going to be when we flee the United States and go everywhere else because we're falling apart. I don't know. The point is, it's always going to be new because there's going to be new people, new generations, and God is always going to be doing new works. But here's the point. I want to be part of whatever work God wants to do. If he wants to revive an old work, if he wants to push forward the work, you know, that we're in the middle of, if he wants to do something brand new, I want to be part of that, whatever it is. There's going to be contention either way, and there should be discussion. Let's talk about these things. Let's not wait for the super elite special believers to take action. Normal believers, as God puts things on your heart, as God puts things on my heart, we need to respond to that and go forward with what God says. And those of us who've been around, when God's not speaking to us, he's speaking to someone else. We need to come along those, alongside of those, and join the work by exhorting those that God is doing that new thing in and instructing and teaching and helping those so that they can accomplish what God has set before them. And again, as we're caught up in whatever work that God has for us, to not be so consumed with ourselves and our plans and purposes, but to show compassion, to hear about the needs of others and be willing to give to those who are in need and meet the needs of those who are around us. This is a good pattern for us to consider when God does a new work. So what's the Lord saying to you? Do you have a heart for something? Do you have a vision for something? Let's seek the Lord. to find out what he wants to do through us. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider this pattern that you've set before us here in chapter 11, Lord, we do want to take this opportunity just to say we're open. Lord, if you'd like to do a new work, if you'd like to do something radically different, Lord, we get intimidated by that idea, by that concept, a little bit scared by it. Lord, at the same time, we want to be open to whatever you want to do. I pray, God, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. that you would give us boldness to do the things that you put upon our hearts. Lord, help us to check them, to make sure they line up with scripture. Help us to have the conversations, Lord, and discussions with one another as members of one another in the body of Christ. That's all important, Lord. Help us, Lord, not to use all of those things as excuses not to do what you've put upon our hearts. Help us, God, to respond as you speak to us, to go forward. and to watch you do the work that you want to do. May your grace be poured out upon us and through us to the world around us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.